In Dept. of Speculation, Jenny Offill gives us a glimpse into a marriage that's unraveling. Written in sharp, fragmented scenes, the story builds layer by layer, quietly exposing the difficulties of combining motherhood, marriage, and personal identity.
There's honesty and humor at every turn, as we follow a woman trying desperately to make sense of betrayal, fidelity, and who she really is. Offill captures intimacy through close observations and quick, insightful details.
Like All Fours, it reveals the complexities underlying the routine moments, making them extraordinary and alive.
Jenny Offill does it again with Weather, a novel that feels urgent yet quietly understated. Here, we meet a librarian who navigates her anxieties, both personal and global. Her observations are quirky but profound, mixing humor with the uncertainty of daily life.
Offill captures the mental juggling act many women experience when the personal intersects the political in unexpected and unsettling ways. If you enjoyed the distinctive voice and unconventional storytelling of All Fours, this book will speak directly to you.
Rachel Cusk creates something quietly remarkable in Outline, a novel constructed from intimate conversations. The narrator, a woman traveling to Athens, mostly listens to others share their stories.
Through these insightful exchanges, we gradually piece together her own subtle narrative. Like All Fours, this novel dives into introspection and questions of identity. It works through implication and observation more than explicit explanation.
Cusk's narrative quietly challenges us as readers to consider how we form our identities through the stories and reflections of those around us.
Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation introduces us to a young woman who attempts to pause her life entirely. Using prescription drugs, she tries to sleep away her emotional pain and boredom.
Darkly humorous and strangely captivating, the novel depicts an unsettling yet compelling quest for escape. Much in line with All Fours, the protagonist confronts her dissatisfaction and searches for a new way to exist.
Moshfegh’s narrative uniquely explores loneliness and identity within modern female experience.
In Maria Semple's witty and unconventional novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, we witness the sudden disappearance of an eccentric and brilliant woman, Bernadette Fox.
Through sharp satire and a lively plot told in emails, letters, and narratives, Semple critiques societal expectations and conformity. Bernadette, feeling trapped by her suburban life, reveals hidden anxieties beneath her quirky behavior.
It resonates with All Fours through its humorous lens on the absurdities of modern adult life, personal identity, and the pressures women face daily.
In Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney tracks the complicated relationships between two young Irish women and an older married couple they become involved with. Rooney creates irresistible tension through dialogue-driven scenes and deep emotional insight.
With an eye for ambivalences around love, desire, and identity, this novel matches All Fours in exploring the complexity of modern relationships, attraction, and emotional entanglements that define the contemporary adult experience.
Meg Mason's Sorrow and Bliss highlights the complexities of mental illness within a marriage. The narrator, Martha, offers a witty yet deeply haunting voice. Through her story, Mason lays bare an adult life punctuated by confusion, crushing lows, and hilarious self-awareness.
Resonating strongly with All Fours, the novel captures marriage dynamics, vulnerability, and introspective moments. It's an honest portrayal of emotional struggle, laced with humor and understanding, revealing the beauty and tragedy of personal relationships.
In Writers & Lovers, Lily King brings readers into the life of Casey, a young woman juggling grief, her creative ambitions, and messy relationships. This novel explores the vulnerable and uncertain world of early adulthood, creativity, and romantic desire.
Like All Fours, King's storytelling presents intimate and insightful glimpses into personal ambition, identity, loss, and the search for authentic connections, making Casey’s journey feel immediate and recognizable.
Melissa Broder's imaginative and darkly humorous novel The Pisces centers around a woman recovering from a breakup, only to find herself in a strange affair with a merman.
Broder delves deep into female desire, fantasy, and desperation, presenting frank insight into heartbreak and identity crises.
Weirdly relatable yet wonderfully strange, this novel matches the tone of quirky introspection and exploration of uncomfortable emotional truths, similar to All Fours.
In Luster, Raven Leilani writes about Edie, a young Black woman who becomes involved with an older white married couple experimenting with an open marriage. This bold, sharp narrative exposes awkwardness, race, desire, and personal relationships.
Like All Fours, it approaches sexuality and vulnerability with unexpected, refreshingly raw insight. The complex intersections between identity, loneliness, and desire depicted here feel both uncomfortable and compelling.
Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times introduces us to Ava, an Irish expat in Hong Kong juggling romantic relationships with a banker and a lawyer. The novel is sharp and thoughtful, with a detached voice that cleverly critiques choices, class, and modern relationships.
Dolan uses humor and wit to explore loneliness, love, and identity. Readers of All Fours will find a relatable emotional core in Ava’s uncertain navigation of intimacy and personal meaning.
Megan Nolan’s intense novel Acts of Desperation closely examines the emotional toll and obsession within an unhealthy relationship. Nolan crafts a vivid account of dependency, self-destruction, and longing. Readers witness the main character unravel slowly yet relentlessly.
Those who enjoyed the emotional honesty and vulnerability entering relationships in All Fours may appreciate the raw intensity in Nolan’s brave portrayal of love, desire, and identity unraveling.
Katherine Heiny's delightful Standard Deviation humorously tracks the ups-and-downs of married and family life.
Characters here are quirky, heartwarming, and wonderfully eccentric, painting a realistic yet amusing picture of working through marriage difficulties, parenting an unusual kid, and everyday absurdities.
Like All Fours, Heiny offers witty insights that feel both funny and warmly human as readers peek behind closed doors into intimate and relatable struggles.
In Happy Hour, Marlowe Granados paints an amusing, lively picture of two young women navigating the NYC art and social scenes. Their humorous and astute observations offer a snapshot of modern adult life and identity shaped by ambition, desire, and social expectations.
Fans of the conversational wit and unconventional voice in All Fours may relate to the vibrant observations and relatable emotional terrain Granados skillfully creates.
Miranda Popkey's Topics of Conversation unfolds through a series of discussions that examine desire, power dynamics, motherhood, and female experience. Encapsulated within these intimate and revealing exchanges, characters grapple honestly with complex personal truths.
Like All Fours, Popkey's novel crafts narrative intimacy through revelations embedded in dialogue. Her stories invite readers into candid conversations that explore identity, sexuality, and vulnerability in deeply compelling ways.